Jim Troughton today insisted Warwickshire can still push on to be “dominant” in county cricket despite the impending loss of Ashley Giles.

Troughton and Giles dovetailed perfectly as captain and coach over the last two years to bring the title to Edgbaston in September.

Their partnership has been split by Giles’ appointment as England limited-overs head coach. But while sorry that the change has arrived so soon, Troughton believes the Bears can withstand the blow and move on.

“People might look at us and think Ashley has gone, what will happen to them now?” he said. “But we have a lot of quality and a lot of strong personnel here and our plans have not changed.

“We want to build ourselves into a dominant force in county cricket and, with the players we have here, I am very comfortable with that.

“We have a very solid structure and the team is in a really good place so, while it is sad to lose Ash, we can move on from a very strong position. I think it will be a smooth transition. When we were celebrating the title on the balcony at New Road in September we were joking with Ash that in a year or two he’d be on his way. I thought the day would come but didn’t expect it this soon.”